1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a boat or watercraft step with an improved support and retracting mechanism, and in particular, to such a step having an enhanced spring pivot joint.
2. Description of the Related Art
In watercraft such as personal watercraft and boats, it is desirable to have an outboard step, which assists a user in boarding a personal watercraft or boat, e.g., from the water after falling off, swimming or water skiing. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,244, for which the present inventor was an inventor, a retractable stirrup having a U-shape is disclosed which pivotably mounts at its ends by means of two (2) brackets to the transom of a personal watercraft. A torsion spring has one end acting on the bracket and another end acting on the end of the U-shaped step. The joint is made by using a cylindrical sleeve fixedly mounted to the bracket and the spring is disposed over the sleeve. The end of the spring acting on the bracket is disposed in a slot formed in the sleeve. The end of the U-shaped member is pivotably connected to the sleeve by passing the sleeve through the tube.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,080 to the present inventor, a retractable step assembly for a boat is disclosed. The assembly is formed by providing tubes disposed at the ends of a U-shaped retractable step, which tubes mate in a male-female fashion with tubes which are part of a mounting assembly. The tubes connected to the step are rotatable with respect to the tubes of the mounting assembly. Neither of the above U.S. patents provide a sufficiently strong spring, external to the ladder, to provide a sufficient retraction force for heavier ladders and storage space for heavier ladders.
It has also been proposed to provide additional space for a spring by modifying the step of U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,080. However, these springs do not retract ladders axially in case of extendable ladders and do not retract ladders through an arc where the ladder is translatable with respect to the spring.
There is a need to retract ladders through an arc but where the ladder has a separate pivot point from the spring and where the ladder is translatable with respect to the spring. In addition, in certain ladders mounted on the top of the boat, there is a need to control rotation of the ladder to its storage position to avoid injuring people during retraction of the ladder. Further, where such ladders have telescoping ladder assemblies, there is a need to retract in two ways, i.e., rotationally and axially, yet avoid a complex, expensive and cumbersome structure.